


Together

by candlelightfool



Category: Frozen (Disney Movies)
Genre: Angst, Fix-It, Gen, Movie: Frozen 2 (2019), Panic Attack, Short One Shot, Sisters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-24
Updated: 2019-11-24
Packaged: 2021-04-11 12:20:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21547774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/candlelightfool/pseuds/candlelightfool
Summary: Anna is not letting go without a fight.
Relationships: Anna & Elsa (Disney)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 165





	Together

Elsa’s face suddenly seemed to smooth over, and her fingers danced in the palm of her hands.

“No,” Anna cried, as she all but fell forward and latched onto her sister. “Don’t you dare!”

“Anna,” Elsa said softly, into the red heap of hair that was smushed into her face.

As Anna leaned away, she still clutched Elsa’s hands, not ready for another betrayal before she could even forgive Elsa for staying silent. If Elsa meant to martyr herself again, she’d have to go through her.

“No,” Anna repeated, tears burning in her eyes. “No, no, no. You promised. You did. Twice.”

_I wasn’t, I wouldn’t_. Elsa swallowed back the lie that came to her lips, for Anna knew her, and she knew Anna. They might not stand a chance at charades together, but Anna could read her in all the ways that mattered.

“What if you get hurt again, Anna? You’re all I have left, you’re all Arendelle has left.”

“This_ is_ the worst kind of hurt.”

A niggling part of her could understand how her parents had sailed away in secret. Elsa could respect it, and hate it all the more, and fall into the same trap, because she would do anything to protect her sister. If there was a flaw in her reasoning, it was only that they had already come so far. Her love was meant to be cold and distant; it would harm those who would hold out an helping hand, and it might be the destruction of them all. It was enough to make tears burn in the back of her throat.

Anna sniffed once, but pulled herself together. “I can tell when you’re going to do something reckless and _dumb_. It’s on your face, and it’s a good face, beautiful, the best face, no contest, but it is dumb and it’s stupid too.”

“I need to find answers,” Elsa justified, but her cheeks now had a touch of pink.

“The answer is love, Elsa!” Anna yelled, sounding anything but loving. “Even if you have to do some things alone, we can still be together in this, as long as you talk to me.”

Elsa looked at Anna with an open expression, bleeding out guilt, because she still would rather send her off without ceremony. And as she squeezed Anna’s hands, she fought against the ice that wanted to crawl out of her fingertips. She felt a growing coldness in her body, something different from the way the cold normally curled into her bones, a panicking discomfort, that she too was often powerless against.

Olaf had been looking at them quite transfixed, since the stark, treeless backdrop did not offer much in the way of a distraction, and Olaf did not put much stock in privacy anyway. “You have to use your voice to talk,” he offered, not so much aware of the tension, as confused by the silence. “Not your eyes.”

Neither sister looked at him, both interlocked into their staring contest, and Olaf felt a twinge of something.

“I know you have these amazing powers,” Anna continued, for though Elsa was a rational creature, she had heart, and would be capable of strange jumps when cornered. “And I’m ballast, I know I’m holding you back, but have the decency to say that. Don’t boot me off with the barest of goodbyes.”

“You’re not ballast, Anna!”

“You have a funny way of showing that,” Anna said, something close to bitterness darkening her tone, “You don’t have to be the selfless Queen with me.”

“I’m not selfless,” Elsa said, sounding wretched, and looking a little worse for the wear. “I’m selfish, so selfish, bringing you this far already.”

“You didn’t bring me, Elsa, I came.”

“I’m sorry,” Elsa said, which was true for different reasons, and regret intermingled, because of what she had wanted to do and failed to complete.

“Were you going to make Marshmallow a brother?” Anna pressed on, with her mind back at the fortress. It hurt her to think that not much had changed in the five year between that moment, and the trapped expression Elsa was wearing now. That five years of bonding, still was not enough for Elsa not to revert back to the knee-jerk reaction of self-imposed isolation.

Elsa shook her head, and she felt herself tremble, as her breath became more shallow and quick.

“I know you want what is best for me, as our parents did, but look where that’s stranded us. Didn’t we deserve to know?” Anna demanded, and it was a relief to share the words. “Don’t we deserve to be equals now? You said _no_ secrets, you said no more closed doors. I left Kristoff _behind _for you, without a thought.” Anna’s voice broke a little, as if her action suddenly hit her, but she shook it off just as fast. One hurt at a time. “But, Elsa, we’re not children anymore. I pick my own battles.”

Elsa’s face had grown a shade paler, her lips tingled, and she stumbled forward, feeling panicked and small and out of control.

And Anna caught her, effortlessly.

Elsa was held tightly, while she breathed in and out in the crook of Anna’s neck, feeling the warmth of it seep into her own cheek. She balled her hands into helpless fists, and willed the feeling of being adrift to subside. It was like the opposite of what she had wanted to accomplish.

Anna was silent, but soothingly combed through the soft waves of Elsa’s hair. Radiating love and forgiveness with every careful stroke.

They huddled together, in shared grief and pain and misunderstanding, and this moment would leave jagged edges too, but they slotted together all the better for it.

“Talk to me,” Anna said, at last, patiently. “We can be scared together, and confused together, and sad. But don’t shut me out again. I forbid it, we’re supposed to be better.”

“You’re all grown up, aren’t you?” Elsa said, when she collected her breath again, but not willing to leave to comfort of the moment. She felt weak, but also a little more free, like the root of her insecurity had taken a hit too. “When did you become the wisest?”

“I had the best example.”

Elsa had to suppress a laugh, for she had never felt more inadequate and broken. “Me?”

“Of course, you! When it comes to the Kingdom, you have a vision, compassion and knowledge. It’s only with me, that you lose your mind a little.”

“We’re a team,” Elsa told her, after she thought it over with a new found calmness, and her heart had stopped racing. “And I _am_ sorry, Anna. I don’t know what come over me.”

Anna smiled at her, relief unfurling itself in her chest.

“I’m going to let you go now,” Anna promised, half-teasing and half-fearing. “But no funny business.”

“We’ll go to the edge of the world,” Elsa said, looking at her sister with pride and thankfulness. “I don’t know what will happen, or of what my powers are capable, but it will be our decision.”

Anna smiled, then laughed. “Let’s go to the end of the world,” Anna repeated, and she reached out her hand again.

**Author's Note:**

> I just saw the movie, and I was just blown away at how good it was. But this moment was so similar to the first one, and I sat there in the cinema like 'no Elsa, no, didn't we learn anything in 2013'.   
So I immediately wanted to fix it, so I did.


End file.
